MQ-1 Landing PIO

Due to the time delay from the datalink the MQ-1 had problems with PIO during landing.[1] If the nose-wheel touches down first the flight control system senses that as a perturbation and deflects the control surfaces nose down.[1] When the pilot sees the nose start to come up after the bounce it can cause a porpoising effect that breaks the nose-wheel and crashes the aircraft.[1] The only way to save the aircraft if the nose bounces is to hold the go-around controls and wait for the aircraft to catch up.[1]

Sources

  • fighterPilotPodcastRPV

Backlink

[[Equivalent System Time Delay]]
[[MQ-1]]
Pilot-Induced Oscillations